Another failure with the bat by England captain Alastair Cook overshadowed a fighting century by Gary Ballance during the second Test against India at Lord's on Friday.
Cook’s early exit apart, this was a serviceable Day 2 for the hosts – and significantly better than that for Ballance, whose 110 underpinned England’s 219 for six in reply to 295 all out.
The captain’s wretched run of form has become an inescapable issue, and it will remain so until either Cook rediscovers the prolific runscoring knack that has eluded him for 26 Test innings, or his twin responsibilities as opener and leader are relaxed.
A critical point is surely close, but at least Ballance ensured England still have a feasible opportunity to break their run of nine Tests without a victory.
That was in major doubt when – with Cook and opening partner Sam Robson dismissed for the addition of just nine runs by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (four for 46) – England faltered first to 31 for two and then 113 for four.
Batting at No 3, Ballance made it clear from the moment he reached the crease that he was not about to go easily on a hot and sunny day.
The 24 year old made the wrong sort of headlines on the eve of this match when pictures emerged of him apparently swaying and stripped to the waist in a Nottingham nightclub after the first-Test stalemate at Trent Bridge.
On the pitch, there were few such indiscretions from a batsman who makes a virtue of patience. It took Ballance 54 balls, either side of lunch, to reach double figures.
But his confidence to wait for bowler error and punish it – leaving and defending well in between – helped him pass 50 for the fourth time in only eight Test innings.
He eventually made it two centuries in three attempts, after his unbeaten 104 against Sri Lanka last month, characteristically cashing in with a sudden rush of five boundaries in nine balls as India’s fourth seamer Stuart Binny filled in overs with the old ball.
Ballance said: “It’s a great place to play cricket and it’s gone well this season. It was quite a tough pitch this morning, but once you got in, it was a good day to score runs.
“We lost a few wickets early on and to be fair they bowled well, but [Ian Bell] and I tried to hang in and scrap, thinking hopefully the runs will come later on, and they did.
“It’s still a good pitch, and if we can keep them in the field a bit longer we can get a good lead.”
Ballance had one let-off on 32 when he edged a delivery that left him down the Lord’s slope that flew between wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan at first slip for four.
“Looking at it again, I probably could have left it,” he said. “When you look round, it feels great to see it going through there.
“When it’s going away down the hill, I try to leave as much as I can. Once you get in, you feel like you’re batting on a flat pitch, but early on you do have to think about it.”
Ballance’s four-and-a-half-hour hundred contained 14 fours from 186 balls and arrived in a fifth-wicket stand of 98 with Moeen Ali.
Those riches appeared a long way off when Cook fell for 10, to take his unenviable annual tally to 107 runs in eight innings.
Cook and Robson have not registered a half-century stand in six attempts together, after the captain followed some movement across him and edged to a diving Dhoni to become Kumar’s first victim.
There were relatively few initial alarms for the openers on a pitch that looked less green than when Cook put India in on Day 1.
Movement off the seam and in the air was not so lavish either, but India’s new-ball pair of Kumar and Mohammed Shami bowled much more testing lines than England had offered 24 hours earlier.
In the 10th over, Robson edged Shami to second slip where Ajinkya Rahane put down a regulation chance, but two balls later Cook was dismissed – and Kumar soon had his second wicket, Robson aiming a drive only to also edge behind.
The nagging seamer struck again soon after lunch with a short ball that followed Ian Bell down the slope and had him gloving a catch to third slip.
Ballance remained assured and unhurried, and Joe Root was a determined ally until he went lbw to Ravindra Jadeja off what looked to be an inside edge.
Moeen lent more lasting support until he missed a flick to leg to give part-time off-spinner Murali Vijay his first Test wicket.
When Kumar then returned with the second new ball to have Ballance caught-behind down the leg-side, it was India who again edged the honours.
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